A hundred Nicaraguans demonstrated yesterday in front of the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) to ask the body to condemn the “genocidal dictatorship” of the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, protagonist of a crisis that has left at least 108 dead .
The Nicaraguans gathered in front of the OAS headquarters in Washington with the blue and white colors of their flag and with a large banner with the message: “Daniel Ortega, your crimes will not go unpunished.”
The objective of the protesters, according to Efe, the national coordinator of the opposition Frente Amplio por la Democracia (FAD), Violeta Granera, is to ask the secretary general, Luis Almagro, to give “due attention” to Nicaragua, in the same way what he has done with the Venezuelan crisis.
“We do not accept that there is only talk of dictatorship in Venezuela and Cuba: Nicaragua has been a dictatorship for 11 years that has been perpetrated in power by electoral fraud, but that has already become a genocidal dictatorship with those massacres of the last days, “said Granera.
Since April 18, Nicaragua has experienced its bloodiest crisis since the 1980s, with at least 108 dead and nearly a thousand wounded, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh).
The protests against Ortega and against his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, began with failed social security reforms and became a demand for the resignation of the president, after 11 years in power, with accusations of abuse of power and corruption.
Violence has intensified in recent days and only in the “Mother of all marches”, held on May 30, there were 15 dead and 199 injured, according to government figures.
Many of the protesters who gathered today in front of the OAS were Nicaraguan immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades and who came from different parts of the country, such as New York, Philadelphia and Miami.
One of the protesters was Blanca Bermúdez, 58, who has been living in the United States for 39 years, although she says she feels “very close” to what is happening in her country.
“Nicaragua is my life and I will continue fighting from here and from where I am,” said Bermudez, who participates in a folk dance group in the town of Falls Church (Virginia) and helped organize the rally through the social networks.
The OAS today celebrates a meeting between Almagro and representatives of the Member States, as well as civil society groups within the framework of the organization’s General Assembly, its most important political forum that will hold its sessions on the 4th and 5th of May. June.
The crisis in Nicaragua is not on the agenda of the General Assembly, where Venezuela is expected to be the protagonist.
